ROLE OF MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST

Medical transcription companies help reduce the documentation workload of healthcare providers. Professional medical transcriptionists are trained to handle the transcription of the various types of reports generated in a healthcare facility. They produce accurate transcripts of history and physical reports, clinic notes, ER reports, consultation reports, procedures, follow-up notes, and health reports. Their timely and efficient assistance helps physicians save time and money and there is little wonder that medical transcriptionists play a significant role in the current healthcare arena.

Medical Transcription – the Process

Physicians can record their dictation on digital recorders for upload on secure FTP sites or transfer via encrypted browsers. They can also use a toll-free telephone number for dictation. Medical transcriptionists have to download these files, listen to the dictated recordings and transcribe them into precise and well-formatted medical reports.

The transcribed reports are checked by the transcriptionist to ensure quality. A professional medical transcription company would have a stringent quality control process where the transcripts are checked at three levels before delivery to the client. A reliable service provider can offer accuracy levels as high as 99% in the final transcript.

Medical Transcriptionists in Professional Medical Transcription Outsourcing Companies

A professional medical transcription company would have a trained and qualified workforce. These skilled medical transcriptionists would have specific skills which allow them to offer quality output.

• Transcription involves multi-tasking as the transcriptionist has to listen to the physician’s dictation and type simultaneously. Hence the ability to multi-task is an important skill for a medical transcriptionist. Good listening skills are a must. They use a headset to listen to the dictation and foot pedals to pause the recordings whenever clarification is needed. Using word processing software and electronic medical dictionaries to edit grammar and medical terms, they produce accurate reports.

• To produce error-free transcripts, the medical transcriptionist must have an in-depth knowledge of medical terminology in various specialties including Cardiology, Physical Therapy, Gastroenterology, and more. They must also be familiar with laboratory and diagnostic tests, anatomy and physiology, pharmacology, and more. This knowledge enables them to produce accurate transcripts from physician dictation.

• A medical transcriptionist should be well-versed in English language especially in grammar, punctuation and other usages. They must also be able to understand different accents.

• Medical transcription work is computerized, right from the downloading of dictated data, creation of reports, uploading of completed files to using the internet for looking up difficult terms, and more. So the medical transcriptionist has to be computer and internet savvy to succeed. Medical transcriptionists should have excellent typing skills to produce error-free reports within the specified turnaround time. 

Finally, it is of utmost importance that the medical transcriptionist is well-versed in the security guidelines pertaining to patient information. They should strictly adhere to these guidelines when handle all the work they are entrusted with. HIPAA compliant medical transcription services will ensure this.